Outside a new Memphis-area Wingstop, a small crowd of locals gathers for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening. The restaurant looks like most others in the Texas-based brand’s portfolio—a modest sign with a signature dark green sans serif type protrudes from a beige concrete exterior,...

I’ve been a “lifer” with this family business called Chick-fil-A. I started visiting our family restaurant, The Dwarf Grill, nine months before I was born. When we were very young, my dad [Truett Cathy] would take me, my brother, and my sister to the restaurant, where we would not only scrape the...

Forget the age-old stereotype of teens being more interested in schlep than success. Auntie Anne’s corporate executives and franchise partners have seen first-hand that there is promising business potential in today’s high-school students.
Fifty teens at the brand’s Leaders & Entrepreneurs...

Brands and operators in the quick-service industry are not looking forward to proposed minimum wage increases that are being seriously considered by states, local municipalities, and the federal government, especially following President Obama’s most recent State of the Union address.
After...

Two years after a major drought increased feed prices, restaurant operators should see relief in the year ahead and capitalize on lower prices to pad the bottom line, according to a recent report.
Corn prices are expected to drop 20 percent in 2014, according to a forecast released in November by...

National broadcast advertising creates a large ripple effect across the country, and quick-serve brands are finding that such advertising can be useful in building demand in new and emerging markets.
Using advertisements to build a buzz for a brand that has yet to reach certain regions can lead to...

Sometime in the late 1990s, I was in Albuquerque with a sweet tooth and a few extra minutes before my flight. Working my way through a busy retail area, I happened upon a hole-in-the-wall pie shop offering what were, at the time, some of the most unusual pastries I’d ever seen or heard of. Out of...

Gone are the days of generic overcooked hot dogs and soggy nachos at sporting events. Quick-serve restaurants are expanding their reach to offer basketball, football, and other sports’ fans more familiar, branded foods at stadiums and arenas.
One of the biggest benefits of operating in a sports...

Roy Choi is taking his campaign to bring good food choices to the masses on the road. Choi, who helped create 3 Worlds Café, a restaurant incubator in south central Los Angeles that trains local students, offers affordable healthy menu choices, and provides a local gathering spot, is expanding...

Texas Chicken, one of the largest quick-service chicken concepts in the world, has opened its first restaurant in New Zealand, with the company planning to open multiple Texas Chicken restaurants nationwide in the next 10 years. Westfield Manukau City Mall in Auckland, New Zealand, is the site...

Consumers are drinking more … coffee and specialty beverages, that is. According to the National Restaurant Association’s annual forecast, snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars are estimated to witness a 5.2 percent sales boost in 2015.

When researchers at the NPD Group started looking into changing consumption patterns, they noticed something odd and unprecedented: though Millennials are in a stage of life when people traditionally opt for convenience over freshness, this generation of consumers is increasing its consumption...

Saladworks, the nation's first and largest fresh-tossed salad restaurant chain, announced the hiring of a new distribution and procurement director, as well as a new social media/local store marketing (LSM) manager. The new hires were driven by the company's aggressive growth strategy, launched...

Bojangles’ Inc., the popular Southeast restaurant chain known for its uniquely seasoned and marinated chicken, made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits, and breakfast served all day, every day, will grow the brand in West Virginia and Kentucky over the next several years.

Woody’s Bar-B-Q announced plans today to unveil two new limited-time offer sandwiches in its Southern barbecue locations all across the nation. Only available now through August 30, 2015, this duo puts a fresh spin on chicken and sausage all summer long:

As most of the food industry knows, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced an extension to the rule released last year requiring that restaurant chains and retailers provide customers with calorie counts on available food and beverages by December 1, 2015.Now restaurants have an e

Regular readers of this column know that for some years now, I’ve been dispensing suggestions on how quick-serve chains can do more to court millions of Millennials, aka members of Generation Y, whose adventurous palates, curious minds, and unconventional tastes have often made them elusive qu